The Orange Democratic Movement party leader Raila Odinga has been cautioned against allowing Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba and his Funyula counterpart Paul Otwoma to leave the party.
On Saturday, Otwoma announced his resignation as the party’s national vice chair while Namwamba threatened to resign as party’s secretary general even after holding a meeting with Raila last week.
But now Borabu MP Ben Momanyi believes the two politicians are key in consolidating the Opposition’s votes from the former Western province for the 2017 polls citing their zeal and vigor to the party in the last decade.
“I have been in politics for a while and I don’t think it will be advisable for Mr Raila to let Namwamba and Otwoma go. They are such indispensable figures in ODM from western Kenya and their resignation from the party will definitely have a negative impact on the Opposition’s in next year's polls,” he said.
“They have been committed leaders in the party, and their concerns should be ironed out without really giving them ultimatums. This is the time as opposition we cannot afford to lose even single members,” he said.
He challenged Mr Raila to re-convene another meeting and discuss the concerns of the two politicians before the matter escalated.
“The two cannot be dismissed simply as that. They command a huge following in Western and their departure will be tragic. All is not lost because he can still invite them to the round table and iron out these differences,” he said.